Ghosts of the memories
by winter morning frost
Summary: When Toni quits the avengers after a fight with Steve, a certain (hot) Norse God visits the remaining Avengers. Together the Avengers (and Loki) watch Toni's childhood experiences and her becoming of IronWoman. (aka they watch Ironman, 2 and 3 and her childhood memories) Fem!Tony Pepperony and Clintasha.
1. Steve pisses Toni off

**A/N: hey guys! This fic is post Thor 2 and ironman 3 & pre winter soldier. Will feature Clintasha and Pepperoni. For the purposes of this fanfiction Howard was an abusive father, sorry if you disagree. Also Tony is a girl. This is my first Avenger's fic so don't kill me. Thanks for reading! **** TRIGGER WARNING: WILL CONTAIN CHILD ABUSE/VIOLENCE/DEPPRESSION IN FUTURE CHAPTERS **

It was just a typical day in the Avenger's tower. Natasha and Clint were sparring in the training room. The score was 12-7 to Natasha. Bruce was meditating with Steve who had _finally_ killed all the punching bags and had decided to try a new form of anger management in the lounge room. Thor was trying to cook pop-tarts in the toaster and burning them… again. Nat and Clint walked into the lounge/kitchen, sweaty and tired. Natasha was wearing jeans and a grey T-shirt that made her vibrant red hair stand out, she was smirking at Clint who was clutching his stomach where she had kicked him in the last match. Clint wrinkled his nose. "Is Thor trying to cook pop-tarts again?" he asked, looking over at Bruce teaching Steve the proper way to cross his legs when meditating. "Yep." Bruce answered with a quick glance towards the kitchen, then looked back to Steve who was a tangled knot of limbs on the floor. "You know maybe we should stop for the day." he said to Steve, trying not to laugh at him. At that moment Thor burst through the door in a white T- shirt and track pants carrying a yellow plate with a pile of blackened pop-tarts, "Friends!" he exclaimed, "Would you like some pop tarts?" he offered with a huge smile plastered across his face. They all looked at the black, charred 'pop-tarts' and said "No" in perfect unison. "Oh." said Thor his smile fading but it returned quickly, "More for me." he said. Thor sat down on one of the three swivel chairs at the bench and started to eat his pop-tarts. The others just shook their heads. "Does anyone know where Toni is?" Steve asked. He sounded a little ticked off, as he had found no good way to relive his anger. "We're having an Avengers team meeting today." he added, to no one in particular.

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear." The Avengers all whipped their heads around to see Toni fully kitted out in a red and gold ski suit that looked a lot like the ironman suit without the head. Her unruly brown hair was tucked up into a beanie and she was grinning like a maniac.

"Toni, it's only autumn. I don't think you need to wear that yet." Bruce stated looking at her shocked. Her grin vanished.

"I'm not wearing this because I'm cold!" she said rolling her eyes, "Pepper and I are going skiing in Japan for the day." she said her grin returning.

"You're what?!" Steve asked dangerously, glaring at Toni. "We have a meeting on today that we've known about for weeks about the doom bots attack, and you want to go skiing!" he said his voice getting louder.

"Not want, am." replied Toni who looked slightly hurt.

"You know, I thought you had changed since New York, I thought you were a better person than this." Steve said disgusted.

"Jeez Cap, it's only one meeting." Toni said, clearly confused at why he was getting this angry,

"Yeah well, what if there's an assembling while you wipe-out on the snow slopes?" he said, yelling now.

"A. Who says I'm wiping out? and B. Even if there was an assembling I wouldn't fight anyway!" she yelled back at him, clearly upset.

"And why would you not be fighting?" he asked dangerously. Toni opened and closed her mouth and looked conflicted. "You're nothing but a selfish brat who never grew up and uses the money she earned off selling weapons to indulge in whatever whims she has on the day!" he growled. Natasha and Clint stiffened, Toni's weapons career was a low blow. Toni herself had turned red and glared at Steve,

"Anything else you would like to get off your chest?" she said, so calm it was scary.

"How are you even related to Howard? If you were more like him this team would be all the better." Steve spat at her. As soon as he said this, whatever was left of Toni's cool vanished.

"If I were anything like my father the world would be in grave danger!" she screamed at him, tears welling in her eyes. As soon as Toni had said that Pepper walked through the door carrying a present with black wrapping and a silver ribbon bow, which she was rearranging. Toni wiped her eyes and composed herself before Pepper looked up, when she did she smiled and walked over to Toni and pulled her into a kiss. All the other Avengers in the room turned away feeling awkward, except Thor who continued to munch on his horribly burnt pop-tarts. When the two broke apart Pepper handed Toni the present,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONI!" she yelled pulling her into a hug. Toni smiled and took the present. She was about to open it when Pepper stopped her, "Open it later." she said and took the present back.

"It's your birthday?" Steve spluttered, starting to pale with guilt. "Toni, what I said. I didn't mean…" he was stopped by Toni's glare.

"Yes, you did mean what you said, so do not even try to say otherwise." she said coldly, "and," she continued, "Since you think I'm such a poor asset to the team," she said gesturing to said 'team' and Pepper who were watching nervously on the six seater couch. No one who made Toni angry lived very long afterwards. "I quit." she finished, to surprised gasps from everyone. "Come on Pepper if we don't go now we won't get to ski at all." Toni said, starting to walk out of the room.

"Wa...wait, you what?" Steve stuttered, scared of what he had done. Toni turned around to face him,

"You heard me," she said, "I quit the Avengers. I quit being Ironman. I quit everything!" And with that she turned around and stormed out of the room. Steve watched her go. Gobsmacked, he turned to the other avengers to see their reactions. They were all glaring at him.

"What have you done?" Natasha hissed.

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	2. Toni gets drunk (again)

**By the way, for this story Tony/Toni never got rid of the arc reactor, I hated how they did that. Enjoy!**

"What did you say to her?" Pepper asked dangerously, flicking her ginger fringe out of her eyes so she could death stare Steve, along with every other member of the team. Bruce's skin had a green tint to it, lightning was crackling around Thor, and Natasha's glare was enough to send any Shield agent running,

"Well, Cap called her a selfish brat who uses the money she made from selling weapons to enjoy herself and that her dad would be a better Avenger than her." Clint told Pepper. If Pepper looked angry before, I can't explain what she looked like now. She stalked over to Steve and slapped him in the hard in the face. Steve clutched his jaw. (Pepper hits really hard.) He stepped backwards, a red hand print blossoming on his face where she had hit him.

"I'm sorry." Steve said, still clutching his jaw. More out of shock than pain,

"No! You cannot say sorry! Did you mean to hit every sore point that she has ever had?!" she yelled. Steve just stared at her, not sure how this usually mild tempered woman had transformed into… this, "You are already the primary reason her life was crap and if I have to put her back on suicide watch because of you I swear you will regret coming out of that ice!" she screamed, stalking Steve around the room until his back was up against the wall, "The only sore spot you didn't kick in the shins was the lesbian thing, and don't look at me like that because we all know that it bothers you!" she ranted as Steve wiped the look of disgust off his face, "And just for that…" she stepped back, kicked him hard in the shins and left the room without another word to find Toni. Steve looked at the team who were now all on the couch, trying not to snigger at what had just unfolded. Steve gave them a 'seriously' look and they all stopped laughing, but kept smiling, "You deserved that bigtime." Clint said. Steve opened his mouth to make an argument then promptly closed it when he saw Bruce and Natasha glaring at him as if to say that if he even thought about saying something he would have the Hulk and Black Widow trying to kill him, which wasn't exactly desirable when you lived in the same building as them. Ignoring that fact,

"Everything I said was true though." he said, quailing under the glares he was now receiving from the whole team.

"You know nothing about her!" Natasha snapped at him.

Far away on a small planet that lay just off Vanaheim, Loki watched the events of the tower play out in a floating bubble that acted as a screen. As he watched, he became extremely curious about the past of the Stark woman and decided to look through it. As he let the memories wash over him he saw why the pair of red heads had been so protective of her. He watched the older memories shift into more recent ones. When they had come to an end, he felt a certain type of comradery with woman of iron, and a hate boiling up for the blond soldier. He looked back at his bubble which had frozen on Steve's face, "You really know nothing about her." he muttered to himself and came to a decision. He would show this 'soldier' why everything he had said was wrong. He snapped his fingers and the world blurred into black as he transported himself to Midgard.

It was 3:00**am** on the fourth of June. It was also six days after Toni and Steve's little spat and a few days after Toni had taken off to Malibu, when The Avengers were awakened by music blaring from somewhere in the top floors of the tower. Bruce ran out of his room to see all The Avengers standing outside their rooms, except for Clint who was standing out in front of Natasha's door looking flustered. Bruce glanced at Steve who was pulling a dark grey t-shirt on over his head, to Thor who was standing there shirtless. His long golden hair looked as if someone had poured a jar of honey on top of it and then decided to ruffle it, and he was clutching Mjölnir in his right hand, "Ceiling servant, where is this infernal noise coming from?" Thor yelled looking up at the roof. (He still hadn't mastered talking to Jarvis.)

"Ma'am and Miss Potts have returned from Malibu and are currently in the rumpus room playing music and that is what you are hearing." Jarvis replied smoothly. Bruce and Steve looked at each other and then simultaneously started running to the rumpus room, followed swiftly by the pair of assassins and Thor. They all skidded to a halt in front of the rumpus room and quickly covered their ears, the music was blasting now. Natasha pushed her way to the front of the group and tried to open the door, when it didn't budge she took a few steps back then kicked the door down. The rest of the team just looked at her.

"I generally don't have a lot of patience and I have even less at 3 in the morning." Nat told them whilst giving them a death stare and walking into the room. They all decided not to argue with angry Natasha and followed her into the rumpus room. Inside the music was deafening. Bruce looked over to the kitchen to see Toni clutching a half empty bottle of scotch, surrounded by about a dozen more empty bottles, dancing and singing,

"This is what we dream about. But the only question with me now is, do I make you proud?" over and over, even during the verses. Pepper was standing beside her, trying to grab the bottle of scotch from her hand, eventually giving up and running over to The Avengers. Her red hair was a mess and the bags under eyes suggested that she hadn't slept in a while,

"Bruce!" she shouted over the music, clearly relieved, "Thank God, I have tried everything to get her to stop, but she won't give me the bottle, could you try to get the bottle while I turn this song off and get her instant sober shot?" she begged,

"Sure," he said, "What's the instant sober thing?" he asked.

"It's an injection that Toni developed that instantly sobers her up, she gave it to me to use if there was ever an Assemble while she was drunk." Pepper answered, already running off to get it. Bruce watched her run off then turned back to Toni who had temporarily stopped singing to down some more scotch. While Bruce was walking over to her the music cut off and all The Avengers sighed with relief. Toni sat on one of the rotating chairs clutching the bottle even tighter now as she noticed the team creeping over to her,

"Was it you who turned my music off?" she slurred, watching Bruce who was next to her now.

"Toni," Bruce said softly, "Will you give me the bottle please?" he asked gently,

"NO!" she pouted, holding the bottle to her chest, "It's my baby" she said looking down at it, the light from the arc reactor giving the bottle an eerie blue glow. Bruce sighed,

"Natasha, could you grab the bottle out of her hands?" Bruce whispered to her so Toni wouldn't hear what he was saying.

"Gladly." she said, she walked up to Toni and quickly snatched the bottle out of her hands before she had time to react.

"Hey! No fair!" Toni pouted as she glared at Natasha, who was drinking the contents of the brown bottle she had just stolen from Toni. "Traitor." Toni muttered under her breath, her unruly brown hair flopping over one eye. The Avengers all turned to the doorway when the heard the sound of Pepper's high heels clicking down the hall. She appeared in the doorway looking flushed,

"I got it." she said breathlessly, holding up a syringe filled with bright yellow liquid.

"Thank you," Bruce said taking the syringe from her and turning to Clint and Thor, "You two grab her and hold her down on the couch. I'll inject her." they nodded and went over to Toni and picked her up easily. Pepper glanced at her silver watch,

"I have to go, I have a business meeting in Tokyo to get to. Sort this out." she said glancing around at all of them as she started to walk out the door. Bruce turned back to see Toni struggling to escape Thor and Clint's strong grip. He walked up to the red sofa that they were holding her on and pulled her chocolate brown hair away from her neck. As soon as he found the right vein, which was difficult because she was still thrashing like crazy, he slid the syringe in and pushed all the yellow liquid in. The effect was instant. Toni immediately stopped thrashing and sat up,

"That's only supposed to be used for emergencies." Toni groaned clutching her head.

"Toni! That was an emergency!" Natasha exclaimed. Toni held her head even harder.

"Ahh, inside voices Nat. The injection sobers me up but it does not get rid of the hangover." Toni whispered looking around at them all, "Where's Pep?" she asked when she didn't see her in the room.

"Lady Pepper has travelled to Tokyo for business." Thor whispered, he and Toni often went drinking so he knew how to handle the hangover,

"Damn, that lasts a week!" Toni complained. Steve, who had been looking awkward for the whole time, shuffled towards Toni. She saw him coming and glared at him,

"How was your ski trip?" he asked nervously. She looked at him, eyebrows raised,

"Fine." she said shortly. Suddenly all the lights in the room went out leaving only the azure glow of the arc reactor as a source of light. Bruce thought that the tower must have blown a fuse but then the room started spinning and they were all lifted up into the air by the strong wind that was blowing. Then everything went black.

When Steve looked up he saw that they were now in a room that looked like a cinema. He glanced around to make sure that everyone was okay. Clint was being helped up by Natasha, Bruce was looking around as if trying to work out where they were, and Thor was trying to get Mjölnir from out under a clear white-ish force field? Then he saw Toni. She was chained to a white balloon-looking chair and she was unconscious. "Doc! Toni is unconscious!" Steve yelled, and tried standing up as Bruce ran over to check if Toni was okay. As he was checking her pulse, her eyelids fluttered and opened.

"Where are we?" she moaned trying to sit up, only to find out she was chained to the chair, "Okay then." Toni said looking down at her wrists.

"Brother." spoke a nervous but familiar voice. All the avengers whirled around,

"Loki?" Thor said.

**The song that Toni was singing is called do I make you proud by Taylor Wick (I think that's who sung it?) **

**If anyone has any suggestions/head cannons for Toni's childhood memories please review or PM them to me and I will include them as a scene. I only have a few so please give me any that you think of! Nothing is stupid! Anyone that does will get a virtual prize! **

**Please review/follow/favorite**


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